a sound she hadn't heard before

fifty-eight.

A week later, Taylor wakes up and instantly, she realizes what day it is. A big smile grows on her face. It's the first day of rehearsals. Joe is still asleep, and doesn't actually need to be up for a bit longer, so she lets him sleep. Carefully and quietly, Taylor gets out of bed and walks into the walk-in closet, turning on the light once she's in there. She picks out an outfit for the day then gets changed.

She looks herself over in the mirror and smiles. There was a time when she would never smile while looking in the mirror, so she's proud of herself for that. She looks good and she lets herself know that today. She is excited to be reunited with all of the cast members that she already knows, and to meet all of the new ones. Since she wasn't really involved in the audition process as much this time as she was for the first workshop, she has only seen audition tapes of the actors. However, from this, she knows that they are all extremely talented and she cannot wait to work with them.

It has been a strange experience, writing for somebody else to sing. She has never really done that, especially not in large amounts like this. Nearly every song that she has written in the past has been for her to sing herself, even if they were sometimes sold to other artists. This has been totally different. She has had to take into account actors who have entirely different voices from her. Children, men, and even a few classically trained sopranos. People who sing with a technical brilliance that she could only hope to achieve someday.

Not that her voice isn't strong. She knows that she has the powerful voice required to fill stadiums, and she has worked with a voice coach for a long time to be able to achieve that. She also knows that the training that somebody receives to be able to sing highly technical pieces in a classical or musical theatre style is completely different from the training that she has had in singing pop pieces.

She has learned so much in crafting the songs, and she is so happy with where they are. Even though she wasn't sure that she was going to, Taylor feels completely ready for today. She can't wait to get to teaching the music that she has poured her heart and soul into.

To start off the day, Taylor decides to cook some breakfast. She's up early because of excitement, so she thinks that it might be fun to surprise Joe and Ayla with breakfast in bed. Half an hour later, she has three plates of pancakes and eggs, placed on two different trays: one to go to Ayla and one for her and Joe.

"Ayla sweetie," Taylor says, peeking her head into her daughter's room. "I've got some yummy breakfast for you."

"Mommy?" the little girl asks, her voice groggy from waking up.

"I'm going to put the tray on your desk, okay? Can you come down from the loft to eat it?" She doesn't quite trust her daughter yet to fully eat in bed, but given that Ayla usually isn't allowed to have food in her room at all, this is still a special treat.

"Okay Mommy," Ayla says, rubbing her eyes. Taylor turns on the lamp, puts the try on the desk, then walks out of the room. As she's leaving, she hears her daughter climbing down the ladder of her lofted bed. Taylor grabs the other tray and heads to her room.

"Joe," she says, lightly shaking her boyfriend after setting the breakfast down at the foot of the bed, "breakfast is served."

He opens his eyes and smiles. "T, did you really-"

"Yep. Happy first day of rehearsals, love. Your West End debut... that's a big deal."

Joe sits up, beaming. "It's your West End debut too," he reminds her, planting a kiss on her lips. "I'm so proud of both of us."

"I think that the casting release is going to go out today after everything is made official," Taylor says. "That's super exciting. The world is going to know your name pretty soon."